Those of you who regularly listen to the Tasting Notes podcast will be aware that it isn’t all blood, guts, goats and Satanic rituals when it comes to our music choices. Both of us have a wide-ranging taste and eclectic sense of adventure and, none more so, than in the world of classical music.
Let’s be honest – there is a lot of ‘Sibelius played by so-and-so’ or ‘Chostakovitch rehashed by such-and-such’ which can become a little dull to all but the most dedicated student of the genre. However, every so often there are gleaming gems that drop from the end of a violin case that can, once scooped up, stay with you for endless days.
One fine example would be Federico Albanese’s ‘Blackbirds and the Sun of October’ (2025). And this is another one.
Jean-Benoît Dunckel is one half of the French dream pop/space electronica duo AIR who have forged an enormous global fanbase since the mid 90s. Throughout that time, JB Dunckel has also composed and released his own solo music, taking on a number of guises, and this culminated in 2024 with the release of a solo piano album titled ‘Paranormal Musicality’.
This new release, Paranormal Music Chamber, is a reworking of the 2024 album using a string quintet (and the odd flute thrown in for good measure) that sees Dunckel experiment with compressors and reverb to create a delicate, absorbing and deeply meticulous work of art.
Noting how the transfer of his piano melodies to multiple stringed instruments made the individual pieces bloom and grow, Dunckel successfully manages to offset the hope and beauty of ‘Shine’ and ‘Dolphin’ against the relative dissonance and haunting echoes of ‘Désintegration’, as well as the cinematic width of ‘Key Games’.
The thirty six minutes spent within the Paranormal Music Chamber are sophisticated, melancholic and well used. By the time the final track ‘Yokai’ is fading away, you realise that this contrasting landscape of sound has stalled you, in a good way, and equipped you once again for the rigorous contours that are part and parcel of being alive.
Best paired with delicate hearing, a merino roll neck wool sweater and a nice cup of tea.
Review by Jaff
Paranormal Music chamber by JB Dunckel is out now on Prototyp recordings.
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